Help

Newsletter

St. Johns deputy shoots knife-wielding man

Provided by St. Johns County Sheriff's Office -- 06/08/14 -- St. Johns County sheriff's Deputy Todd Boger shot and wounded a knife-weilding man, identified by investigators as John Vincent DeSanto, 43, of St. Augustine, on Sunday, June 8, 2014

This is the knife that was recovered at the scene.

A St. Johns County sheriff’s deputy investigating a stabbing early Sunday shot and wounded a St. Augustine man who authorities said was wielding a fighting-style knife and refused the deputy’s orders to drop the weapon during a confrontation.

Deputy Todd Boger shot John Vincent DeSanto, 43, about 3:30 a.m. near the parking lot of a multifamily housing complex on Sunrise Boulevard off Florida 207 in St. Augustine, said Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan, spokesman for the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.

DeSanto was flown by air ambulance to UF Health Jacksonville. He appeared to have non-life-threatening injuries and is expected to recover, Mulligan said.

Mulligan said the shooting occurred after a woman called 911, saying that she had been stabbed by a man she knew after opening her front door for him. Deputies including Boger, a 10-year Sheriff’s Office veteran, began searching for the man, believed to be in the common areas of the Southern Villas complex.

Boger found a man, later identified as DeSanto, who was armed with a large fighting-style knife near the complex parking lot. Boger ordered DeSanto to drop the knife several times.

“The individual [DeSanto] raised the knife up over his head, from the initial account that we’ve gotten, and refused to drop the knife. And the deputy unfortunately was forced to shoot him,” Mulligan told the Times-Union.

DeSanto “was provided advanced life protective measures” at the scene by St. Johns County Fire Rescue paramedics and then flown to UF Health Jacksonville for additional trauma care, Mulligan said.

Boger wasn’t injured.

The woman was treated for non-life-threatening injuries by St. Johns Fire Rescue at the scene.

DeSanto has a criminal history dating to 2001 in St. Johns County, including arrests for aggravated battery, resisting an officer, drug possession, fraud, forgery and larceny, according to jail booking records.

Boger has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol in deputy-involved shootings, Mulligan said.